Parker House Rolls

Sometime looking back makes me nostalgic, like still there are fans for silent movies of Charlie Chaplin in world of computer games, ipad and iphone. I like cowboy movies with its gunfire and horse riding, especially those of Clint Eastwood. Why I am talking about silent movies and western movies in a food blog is because I fell in love with this 19th century dinner rolls. When I saw Parker house rolls for first time in King Arthur flour website, I got hooked immediately. I know I am not going to Boston in the near future, even if I am going I don’t think I will be staying in that famous hotel. It will be real enthusiasm when you try the food which you heard about not tasted. 

This parker house rolls are made in Omni Parker House Hotel (built 1855), a hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. They prepared and served two famous American food, Parker house rolls and Boston cream pie. According to King Arthur flour website, Parker house rolls are delicious and special because of the butter; however I can’t experiment with too much amount of butter and reduced to 5 tablespoon of butter. I also incorporated two different flours compared to all purpose flour which the traditional recipe uses. I used 75 % of bread flour and 25% of whole white wheat flour and skipped egg and used fresh mashed potato as I don’t have any potato flour on hand. 

Followed KAF recommended way of folding the dough rather than traditional way of cutting the dough in rounds and then folding, which they mentioned as it lose the shape while baking. I didn’t want to see any surprise while baking so used their tried and tested method. 

The bread turned out to be so soft, pillowy and delicious. In between my husband asked me to make some Batata vada (Besan covered fried potato dumplings) which is famous in his home town Mumbai. In Mumbai they like to eat vada sandwiched between soft rolls. I thought if I have this soft parker house rolls in my bread basket, why don’t I try the Mumbai classic too. Thus I can taste classics of both worlds. Trust me I did that and it tasted so awesome that my hubby wanted to have them as his evening snack and next day breakfast. Next I am going to try them with whole wheat making them healthier. Here goes the recipe

One Year ago: Cream of mushroom soup

Print Recipe from here

What you need

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour blog

Unbleached bread flour: 2 cup/ 305 g (I used King Arthur flour)
Whole white wheat flour: 1 cup/ 154g (I used King Arthur flour)
Active dry yeast: 2 1/2 teaspoon/ 23g
Granulated Sugar: 3 tablespoon/ 41 g
Salt: 1 ¼ teaspoon/7g
Mashed potato: ¾ cup/ 175 g
Unsalted butter: 5 tablespoons (3 tablespoon for dough and rest is used as melted butter for brushing)
Milk: 1 cup/205 g
Water: ¼ cup

How I made

Boil a large potato (I used Russet potato) and when it cooked mash and set aside. 

Heat milk in microwave safe bowl for 35 seconds high and add 3 tablespoon of butter and set aside.

In a small bowl add ¼ cup of warm water, sugar and yeast and stir everything to combine and set aside for proofing the yeast for 15 minutes or until they become bubbly and frothy. 

In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredients (except the 2 tablespoons melted butter at the end), mixing to form a shaggy dough. 

Knead the dough, by hand (10 minutes) or by machine (7 to 8 minutes) until it's smooth. 

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or 8-cup measure (so you can track its rising progress). Allow it to rise for 2 hours or until they become double in size. 

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface. Divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, roll or pat the dough into an 8" x 12" rectangle. 

Brush the dough all over with a light coating of the melted butter. Remaining melted butter should save for later use. 

Cut the dough in half lengthwise, to make two 4" x 12" rectangles. Working with one rectangle at a time, fold it lengthwise to about 1/2" of the other edge, so the bottom edge sticks out about 1/2" beyond the top edge. You'll now have a rectangle that's about 2 1/4" x 12". Repeat with the other piece of dough. 

Cut each of the rectangles crosswise into four 4" pieces, making a total of 8 rolls, each about 2 1/4" x 3". Place the rolls, smooth side up, in a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan. Repeat with the remaining piece of dough, making 12 rolls in all. You'll arrange 4 rows of 3 in the pan, with the longer side of the rolls going down the longer side of the pan. Gently flatten the rolls to pretty much cover the bottom of the pan. 

Cover the pan, and let the rolls rise for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until they're puffy but definitely not doubled. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Bake the rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, until they're golden brown and feel set.

Remove them from the oven, and while warm, brush with the remaining melted butter. 

Enjoy with Jam or Batata Vada like me.

Preparation time: 4 hours
Yield: 12 no
Verdict; soft , yummy
Will you make it again:  Yes I will

This delicious  rolls are going to

Susan's  Yeast spotting
Just another meatless monday 
Midnight manic meatless monday 
Hearth and Soul hop vol. 31
 Healthy kids meals carnival #3